


Off Guard

by youcouldmakealife



Series: Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [19]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:10:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife
Summary: ‘I don’t want anything to wreck this’ sounds mushy and insecure, and he doesn’t want to be either of those things. Apparently is, but doesn’t want to be, anddefinitelydoesn’t want Bryce to know that he is.





	Off Guard

It’s been almost a week since camp ended, and Bryce has shown no sign he’s planning on leaving Calgary.

Jared’s been reluctant to bring it up, like if he does Bryce will go ‘oh shit, I totally forgot about home, hold on, I’ve got to book a flight’. Which is stupid, he knows, but just because it’s a stupid feeling doesn’t mean he wants to test it. Right now things are so great that he feels like anything can topple them. Taller you build, harder things fall.

Bryce brought up maybe meeting Jared’s parents (”Properly”, Bryce says, when Jared pointed out that he’d already met Jared’s dad), but that is very much the definition of something that can topple a good thing. Jared has zero doubt his parents would not be on their best behaviour. Bryce? Surprisingly Jared thinks he would. Jared’s parents? No.

Jared said it was too soon, which it kind of is. They’ve only been dating a few weeks, though it’s felt — not longer, exactly, but more than he thinks a few weeks sounds? Like, this isn’t casual to him, and he doesn’t think it’s casual to Bryce either, which is usually why you wouldn’t do something too soon. But really, he only said that because ‘I don’t want anything to wreck this’ sounds mushy and insecure, and he doesn’t want to be either of those things. Apparently is, but doesn’t want to be, and _definitely_ doesn’t want Bryce to know that he is.

But there’s really only so long he can pretend Bryce’s departure date isn’t a thing to deal with, and he’s decided today’s the day he asks when Bryce is heading home. That he isn’t going to let himself get distracted by Bryce’s beautiful bed, like yesterday, or some really killer fish tacos, like the day before, or — fuck it, Jared’s not going to lie: he hasn’t been distracted, he’s been putting it off. Though as far as distractions go, Bryce’s bed and those tacos deserve some credit.

Jared’s trying to figure out a way to ask that’s casual sounding, non-committal. He doesn’t want to sound accusatory or whiny or something. Bryce can obviously go home if he wants to. If Jared wasn’t playing in his hometown, he’d be packing his clothes and equipment and getting on the first train, plane, or automobile the second summer got underway, and he knows Bryce didn’t exactly want to stick around Calgary and help out at camp, though in Jared’s opinion it worked out pretty okay for the both of them.

He’s still working through it (okay, procrastinating) when Bryce brings it up himself.

“So hey,” Bryce says, something about the way he says it immediately putting Jared on guard.

“I was supposed to head back to BC for training this week,” Bryce says. “Like, the camp already has me pretty behind, but—”

“Oh,” Jared says, stomach dropping, then tries to remind himself it’s not even a month until Bryce’s back for training camp. Just a under a month that he could decide Jared isn’t worth the trouble, or meet someone else, or —

Jared swallows, tries to shove those thoughts out of his head, though he isn’t very successful. “When are you leaving?”

“I’m not,” Bryce says.

“Oh,” Jared repeats, then, “Wait. What? Why?”

“Um,” Bryce says. “Just. Didn’t feel it, I guess?”

Bryce has talked about home kind of a lot. Not like, in the planning for it way, just mentioning stuff about his mom, or how nice it is to bike through Stanley Park, or how much better the Chinese food is than in Calgary, and never mind the fucking sushi, they’re not even in the same league. How great the local beer is, which reminded Jared he needed to tell him about his mom’s rule, because Jared has no interest in being grounded until he’s eighteen over a damn beer. Stuff like that. Stuff that makes it obvious he thinks of Vancouver like it’s still home, that he misses it.

“You didn’t feel it?” Jared asks.

“Nah,” Bryce shrugs, and Jared hadn’t realised this before, but Bryce is an absolutely _terrible_ liar. Abysmal. He probably got caught every single time he did something wrong as a kid, and judging by his adult record, that was probably really frequently.

So if it isn’t that he’s not feeling it, and it isn’t because of any obligations — Jared would know if he had any, since they’ve basically spent the last week at Bryce’s place, eating and chilling in front of the TV and fucking and taking the best naps Jared’s ever had — there’s really only one reason for him to stay in Calgary.

“Wait, are you sticking around because of me?” Jared asks.

“Well,” Bryce says, then, like it’s obvious, “Yeah.”

“You really don’t have to stick around for me,” Jared says. “Like, your training’s more important.”

Jared has no idea why he’s specifically arguing against Bryce staying, considering the idea of his leaving gets his stomach twisting every time, but he doesn’t Bryce second-guessing it, or resenting him for making him choose, or wondering if it’s worth it, and he definitely doesn’t want Bryce fucking around with his actual _career_. Offseason training can make or break a season.

There’s a part of him — a stupid part — that wants Bryce to counter that he’s more important, but he knows that a couple weeks of dating doesn’t count more than a lifetime working toward hockey. Nothing does, at least as far as Jared’s concerned.

Bryce shrugs. “There’s good trainers here,” he says. “I talked to Kenny — Victor — uh, he’s —”

“I _am_ a Flames fan, Bryce,” Jared says. “I know who Victor Kennedy is.”

“Well, Kenny trains here,” Bryce says. “He said he’d talk to his guy, see if he can take on another guy in his group, let me know, so.”

“So you’re sticking around for awhile,” Jared says.

“I mean,” Bryce says. “I don’t have anywhere to be before the season starts, really.”

“That’s, um,” Jared says. “Cool.”

“Cool,” Bryce says, flashes him that toothy grin, and if Jared gets distracted by that big beautiful smile and, shortly after, that big beautiful bed, well, he doesn’t need to bring it up anymore, so it doesn’t matter.

*

Apparently ‘Kenny’ — Jared can’t refer to him as Kenny, he’s Victor fucking Kennedy, Jared’s been watching him since he was a kid — gets a thumbs up from his trainer, and while that means the days of just lounging around and doing nothing together in a way that feels a lot like _something_ are over, Bryce is still going to be around, so Jared is pro that development.

Bryce doesn’t ask for deets, strangely uncurious, but Jared spends the night before Bryce starts training googling Calgary based players to see who Bryce might be training with. It’s weird to like, think of Bryce training with some hotshot even though he’s kind of a hotshot himself. Jared’s already pretty impressed about Kennedy, and he’s Bryce’s _liney_. To Jared he’s a franchise player, solid from the time he was drafted, a guy Jared grew up watching. To Bryce he’s the dude who sets him up for goals. And you don’t see Jared fanboying Bryce.

There are some guys from Calgary that might be there, a few who are top six players, though honestly Bryce is probably the biggest name, would be the one to give people pause. And yet Jared’s sitting here wondering if Bryce would be cool with him dropping by with shit for the guys he’s training with to autograph.

God, he hopes he stops fanboying if — when — he makes the NHL, or that’s going to make things super awkward with whichever hotshot he ends up on a team with. He hopes he doesn’t end up on a roster with David Chapman or something, because he’d completely embarrass himself. Dude’s so talented it makes Jared writhe with envy, and he’s stupid hot on top of that. Life is unfair sometimes.

Though Jared has also managed to somehow bag someone stupid talented and stupid hot, so like. Life can be fair. 

He’s afraid of thinking that. Thinking that is asking for trouble.

*

Except apparently it isn’t, because life continues to be fair. Or, more accurately, awesome. Bryce is busy during the days — he is really blase about training with Freddie fucking Matthews, so maybe fanboying does wear off once you hit the show? Alternately Jared’s going to be the only one embarrassing himself.

So like, afternoon delights now that Bryce is training: no longer applicable, except during Bryce’s rest days. But he sees Bryce almost every single evening, and it’s not like he has nothing to do during the day: he hits the gym, does the strength training that’s supposed to help him gain some of the muscle he needs to be attractive to scouts. Cardio every other day, which he prefers, swimming laps in the designated lanes in his local pool, jogging in the mornings before it gets too hot, joining Bryce for a game of tennis that gets really competitive once Jared involves sex in the stakes. Which is stupid, because loser’s going to do something loser would do anyway, and winner’s probably going to return the favour, but it’s one of the tightest games he’s ever played, and he barely ekes out a win despite years of tennis practice.

Bryce not only fulfills his end of the bargain, but ups it, mouthing down Jared’s stomach while he jerks him achingly slow, and then taking him into his mouth while Jared stares, wide eyed and disbelieving, and then comes in like twenty seconds. It’s mortifying, especially because he totally didn’t warn Bryce before he did, like a jerk. In his defence, apparently a slight scrape of teeth is, um. Amazing. He doesn’t think it was on purpose, but. Amazing.

Raf comes into town with his girlfriend, asks if Jared’ll show them around, like Calgary’s the big city or something. Though Jared guesses it is if you’re living in Lethbridge. Grace is almost as shy as Raf, sweet like he is, and they make the most adorable couple Jared has possibly ever seen, holding hands and trailing behind Jared as he gives the most half-assed tour possible.

They come back to his after, and Grace kicks both their asses in NHL 15 while playing as the fucking Oilers. She destroys the Canucks 6-1, and then, before Jared can smirk at Raf for even a minute, annihilates his Flames in a 7-0 game. The worst part of the whole thing is that she does it practically silently, doesn’t even bother to chirp them as she completely humiliates them, which ends up being the most humiliating part of all.

“You didn’t mention your girlfriend’s an Oilers fan,” Jared hisses to Raf when she goes to the bathroom. Jared takes back all the nice thoughts he had about her.

“She’s actually a Golden Seals fan,” Raf says. “She just plays as the Oilers because she knows I hate them. Plus she says it’s more of a challenge because the roster sucks. Last time she played as the Golden Seals she beat me 12-0.”

Jared’s changed his mind again. “Your girlfriend’s awesome,” Jared says.

“I know, right?” Raf says, and bumps Jared’s fist when he holds it out.

*

Honestly the biggest bump in the smooth road Jared’s facing is fellow Mathesons. His parents have let up a bit with the disapproving looks, maybe because they can tell it’s serious by the way Jared’s constantly at Bryce’s, or maybe just because they’ve gotten used to it by now, but they haven’t completely quit.

His nana utterly mortifies him with a ‘I hear you’re dating an older man’ when she comes over for dinner one night (a dinner Jared does not skip, and doesn’t need his parents to tell him not to — he loves his nan), Erin worsening the situation with a brutal, ‘how can he be an older man if Jared isn’t even a man yet?’, but like. Death by humiliation is something he’s grown accustomed to, so he only blushes for half an hour or something. Maybe forty-five minutes. Who can say? Not Jared.

So. Life’s pretty fair, right now, and that is not a jinx, because jinxes are superstition, and Jared is not superstitious. At all.

He discreetly knocks on the coffee table.

“Wha—” Bryce says, head coming up from where he’s been dozing on Jared’s shoulder. He comes back from training completely wiped half the time, says he’s out of shape, which uh. Okay. Jared would beg to differ, but okay.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jared says.


End file.
